This will be my only newsletter in December. Normally my next issue would
come out in about two-weeks, but that would put us right in the middle of
the holiday season, so I will hold the next issue until January 9th.
Since this is the last time I will talk to you this year,
let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy
Hanukkah or Happy Holidays -and to all of you a very happy, prosperous and
blessed New Year.

Watch out for this Amazon Seller fraud:
A few sellers have reported phishing messages coming through their Amazon
buyer/seller messaging. The messages are almost always about some aspect of
Amazon selling policies, appear to be from Amazon support and invite you to
click a link. Since you are inside of Seller Central (in the messaging
service), some of your normal caution evaporates.

Now, here is the interesting part. When you click on the link (that for
some reason Amazon does not remove), a page pops up with a two-step
verification and a message to enter some financial information such as bank
account, credit card on file or social security number as a back-up form of
identification. I have gotten about half a dozen emails from sellers who
have done this. If that many reported it to me -I suspect the real number
is in the many more.

REMEMBER, no matter where the message comes from, Amazon will
never ask you to enter that sort of information that
originated in an email. If Amazon has a problem with any of your
information, they will tell you to log into your account (not via a link)
and check your account information.

I know this newsletter is aimed at sellers, but a lot of you are also
online shoppers -especially this time of year. As you know, the Christmas
selling season is the biggest time of year for fraud. Here are some popular
frauds to look out for:

The Christmas season is the biggest time of year for phony charity
scams. Before giving to any charity, check them out with
charitynavigator.org, or charitywatch.org

Phishing attempts get very creative this time of year -be
especially careful of authentic-looking emails offering coupons or
shopping discounts

Use a Credit card instead of a gift card or debit card (this way
you can always do a chargeback)

Be alert for hackers. Update your computer security and never
access any sites requiring a sign-in on any public wi-fi site

Be especially alert to fake or counterfeit goods. If that Gucci
handbag seems cheap -it probably is not real. Real designer brands
tend to raise their prices this time of year -not cut them

Before entering any credit card, PayPal or banking information,
make sure the page you are on starts with https:// or you see the
padlock icon served up by your browser.

Lastly, remember the old saying: If something looks too good to be true -it
probably is. And remember to be vigilant right after Christmas -Many of
those After-Christmas sales are completely phony.

One feature eBay has always had over Amazon is highly customized eBay
Stores

Amazon now makes it easier to drive traffic to your storefront. Just tell
buyers to type your seller ID into the Amazon search bar. Normally, your
storefront shows all your products pretty much as you listed them. But
Amazon is finally offering a way to customize your storefront. Just use the
new Amazon Manage Store link at the very bottom of you Seller Central page
(You have to be logged in to use it).

You can also place a link to your Amazon store in emails and social media
posts. Or, you can put a note on, or in with, your product as long as it
doesnít mention your website. We have just started putting a label like
this on our products:

Itís too early to know if this helps our sales, so I will let you know in a
few months.

A couple issues ago, I mentioned that eBay has gone back to placing off-eBay
advertisements in your listings. In that article I mentioned that it wasnít
happening to me. Well, I spoke too soon. Here is a listing where eBay added
advertising:

Only one of them is a direct competitor, but I visited the website eBay
linked to and they had products similar to mine that were also cheaper.
Apparently, eBay makes more money from advertising than our seller fees.

Online shoppers spent over $11 Billion from Black Friday through Cyber
Monday. Amazon alone shipped over 140 million products during that time
period. Although they won't release the exact numbers yet, Amazon also said
that Cyber Monday was their biggest shopping day ever.

Total Online sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday are up over 20%
compared to last year, whereas sales at major Department stores were up
less than 1% compared to last year. As for our personal sales on eBay and
Amazon, they were down slightly because we have fewer SKUs listed this
year. However, our margin percentages are higher because we did a better
job of getting rid of non-performing inventory, and are expanding our
Private Label products which are more profitable

A word about books and training courses you buy from us:

Holiday Sale

Our annual Holiday 40%-off sale runs through midnight on December 31st.
Just use the coupon code SAV40SKIP on
any of my products.
After you enter the coupon be sure and click the button that says
APPLY or it will not take. Please Note:
If you want to buy more than one book you will need to buy them separately
because my shopping cart coupon function will only discount the last item sold.

Shipping our printed books.

If you are East of the Rocky Mountains we ship Priority Mail out of New
York State - That normally takes 2 or 3 days, but with holiday shipping it
could be 4 days. West of the Rockies we ship out of Washington State by UPS
- So again, normally 3 or 4 days, but holiday shipping could slow that
down.

Amazon Seller University has an updated short video on
Inventory Prep Requirements
.
If you want to access all of Seller University,
you can do that here
.
Note: You must have a seller account and be logged into
your Seller Central account to access either of these links.

Let's deal with how you find wholesalers first. I tend to find my best
wholesale sources at wholesale trade shows. My favorite two are the ASD
Trade Show held every year in Las Vegas in March and August and The
National Hardware Show which trades places every year between Orlando and
Las Vegas. This year it is in Las Vegas starting on May 9th. In
addition, I also attend the Gift Shows in Seattle near where I live.

I am not going to spend time here on trade shows because I have written
extensively about them in previous issues and in my
Complete Marketing Systems for
eBay
and
Amazon.

Suffice to say, the advantages of trade shows are that you can see and
handle the products, and many times you can meet the owners of the company.
This is the best way to make special deals such as negotiating an exclusive
selling arrangement for eBay and/or Amazon.

Another way I find products is by shopping, both online and offline. When I
am in a store and see a product that interests me, I pick it up, look for a
website on the box and either write it down or take a photo with my phone.

When I get back to my office, I bring up the website on my computer and
look for a link for wholesale customers to register. It usually looks
something like this:

If I don't see that, I look for a Contact Us link (which
practically all websites have) and send them an email like this:

Hello

I am a retailer located near Seattle and would be interested in carrying
your products. Do you have a rep or distributor in the greater Seattle
area, or can we buy from you directly?

Notice I did not mention eBay, Amazon or selling online. When you buy
wholesale, mark up the product and sell it at a higher price, you are
selling retail, so being a "retailer" is correct. If someone asks me if I
sell online, I tell them the truth, but I rarely volunteer that
information.

Here is how I find wholesalers online: First you have to know what you are
looking for. So, let's say I want to sell candles. I go to Google and type
"Candle Manufacturers" in the search field.

This brings up several dozen companies (including two that private label).
Visit the websites of those companies that interest you. Once you visit the
website and decide that you are interested, look for the
Contact Us link and send them the same email shown above.

Most of these companies will send you their wholesale registration forms
along with price lists and sometimes a PDF Catalog. One of the other things
you might get is a credit app. I usually open these and just fill in my
banking information and leave the rest blank. I tell them in the email when
I return the documents that I prefer to pay with a credit card, because it
makes my bookkeeping easier and I earn travel points I can use to attend
trade shows. Most companies are fine with this -and many even prefer it.

Sometimes the forms you receive have restrictions about selling online. A
few will forbid it all together (when I see one of those, I just throw it
in the trash and move on to the next one). But many will say you need their
permission to sell online (A few even mention eBay and/or Amazon). The main
thing these companies are looking for is for you to agree to follow their
MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) policy.

This is a policy whereby you agree to set a price they determine and not to
list or advertise any lower prices. Note that we are only referring to the
advertised price -not your selling price. For example, if a company has a
MAP price of $24.95 for a certain item, then you have to list it at that
price on eBay, but if you check the best offer box and someone offers you
$20, you can accept that.

Federal law prevents companies from fixing prices by controlling the price
they sell at, but they are allowed to control the "advertised" price.

Speaking with wholesale sources

Obviously if you are at a trade show, you will be speaking with the owners
or company representatives. But when you contact sources on the web, they
may also give you a call. When you speak with a source the first thing to
remember is to be nice. Both of you are professionals who need each other.
You need to find products to resell, and they are looking for companies to
sell to.

You want to act professionally, but you can do this while being nice and
polite. If you sense any hesitation or reluctance on their part to sell to
you, then ask them some general personal questions such as "Where are you
from?" or "Do you have any kids?" I find that people like to talk about
themselves and like people who are interested and listen. This will
instantly make them want to help you.

Once they agree to sell to me, one of the questions I always ask is if they
are they exhibiting at any trade shows. If the answer is yes, then I ask if
they have any show specials they can extend to me. This really
works. I have signed up with wholesale sources for the first time and
gotten free shipping, or substantial discounts on my first order even
though I was not at the show.

I know it's too late to send goods into Amazon FBA, but there are still
opportunities to sell via Merchant fulfillment or on eBay. The reasonable
cut-off date for 2-day shipping is December 22nd. That is the
last day you can be sure a package will arrive by Christmas Eve if you use
2-day air. You will find the occasional person who will pay for overnight
shipping which gets you to 2 PM to 4PM the day before Christmas eve, but
those are pretty rare.

Always offer some type of expedited shipping -preferably 2nd day
air. Be careful with priority mail. I find that a priority mail package
will reach the recipient normally in 3 business days, but after December 5th
or so, that time often extends to 4, or even 5, business
days. The USPS website says the priority mail cutoff for Christmas eve
delivery is December 22nd -but I am not sure if you can trust
that. And many folks who get a Christmas gift too late will often return
it, and/or leave bad feedback.

Another important factor is collecting payment and entering tracking. Both
eBay and Amazon require sellers to enter tracking information on 90% of
their shipments within 24 hours, but there is an additional factor for
Amazon Merchant Fulfilled sellers. It's called Paid when shipped.
Amazon will not charge a buyer's credit card until you mark a shipment as
shipped. The danger there is, you could ship an item and by the time you
let Amazon know, the buyer has maxed out their credit card.

You can mark an item as shipped without the tracking info, but that can be
problematic. One of the things I like about the post office (USPS), is that
you can buy postage and delivery confirmation online and USPS will generate
a tracking number when you do that. UPS also has that capability if you
have an account with them. When you create the shipping label, UPS assigns
a tracking number that you can enter into eBay or Amazon even though you
have not actually shipped it yet. This way you can mark an item as shipped
even though you technically have not yet done so. This way you are sure to
get paid before the goods leave your possession.

Lastly, if you use FBA, keep shipping through December so you have stock in
January which is usually a pretty good month. It's not as good as December,
but better than most months of the year due to people getting Amazon gift
cards and people returning gifts and using the money to buy what they
really wanted.

If you are an eBay seller, or an Amazon MF seller, keep ordering product
through December so you have it in stock to sell in January.

This is a guest article by Ferry Vermeulen, director at Berlin based
INSTRKTIV GmbH. INSTRKTIV helps sellers to create compliant and
user-friendly documentation. Read his blog post about
creating compliant user manuals for the EU
.

The first part of the article deals with Amazon and there is info for eBay
sellers at the end.

Amazon Europe: The DoC and Relevant Documentation

by Ferry Vermeulen

Selling products on Amazon Europe, requires you to submit documentation
that shows that your product adheres to and is completely compliant with
European legislation. This is especially true for certain products such as
toys and electronics, which are required to have a CE mark.

Amazon Europe is notoriously strict when it comes to approving products
that are not submitted with the right documents. At times, declining
applications without explaining what is needed to make submitted documents
acceptable.

One of the needed documents is the Declaration of Conformity (DoC).

The DoC is the final step you need to prepare, in the process of obtaining
CE marking. As such, it has to be incorporated into the user manual or
technical file, or be included with the product you are selling.

In this article we will look at the requirements that Amazon Europe has for
submitting product approval documentation, and then explain what to look at
when drawing up a Declaration of Conformity.

1. Looking at Amazon Europe's Requirements

- If you want to sell on Amazon Europe, you must know that you carry the
responsibility of ensuring that your products fully comply with every
standard and document requirement.

- Many seem to think that this responsibility lies with the supplier. This
has in the past been a point of tremendous frustration, as products would
be kept at customs offices, because they lack the required papers. You as
the seller is solely responsible for the compliance procedure.

- Though not all products may require having a CE mark, Amazon Europe
requires them to be safe and therefore comply with national product
regulations.

- For products that are riskier than others, and are subject to stricter
rules, Amazon Europe requires you to obtain pre-approval from them before
listing. Examples of a couple of products requiring pre-approval are:
jewelry, electronics, shoes, beauty and cosmetics.

- The submission of documents is in most cases initiated by Amazon Europe,
as they would contact you to request additional material. In some cases,
documents can be attached during the pre-approval phase. Should you not be
able to provide all necessary material, Amazon Europe will not grant you
product approval.

- Amazon Europe may also require images of the product, especially ones
that clearly show the original packaging from all sides. This is necessary
for compliance with labeling rules.

2. Drawing Up the Declaration of Conformity

Drawing up a DoC might seem like a daunting task, but if you break it up
into small actionable steps, the work seems that much easier. Therefore,
we've broken up the process into 4 manageable steps.

Visit the EU website and choose your product group(s).

Search for all information pertaining to the DoC in the chosen
directive.

Step 1: Visit the EU website and choose your product group(s)

When visiting the EU site make sure to go through all directives that
pertain to your product, as some products need to comply with more than one
directive.

Should your product need more than one directive, you must fulfill all
requirements on each directive for your product. You will find all relevant
requirements for the DoC in each directive.

Step 2: Search for all information pertaining to the DoC in the chosen directive

An easy method we utilize to gather all relevant information regarding the
particular DoC, is to search for the phrase "declaration of conformity"
within the text, and copy all sentences or paragraphs including the phrase
to a spreadsheet.

Divide the spreadsheet into 2 columns, with the left column containing the
name of the article, and the right column containing the copied
information.

Read through the right column information carefully as you now have an
overview of necessary information needed for the DoC.

I have sold two books related to earning money through blogging:
How to Make Money with The Amazon Affiliate Program
(explains how to do that by blogging) and How to Make Money Blogging From Home (Now out of print).
I will recommend some more books towards the end of the article.

The answer to How to Monetize your Blog is actually two-fold:
Affiliate Marketing, and/or sell your own information product. I do both
and so can you.

Let's look at each method:

Affiliate Marketing

There are three keys to making money with affiliate marketing - traffic,
interest and integrity. To get traffic to a blog requires you to have a
topic people are interested in and you have to be useful or interesting
enough that people will trust your advice and want to visit you on a repeat
basis. The integrity comes in when you recommend products. People have to
believe you have their best interests at heart and are just not trying to
sell them something. This means that your posts should contain lots of good
and helpful information.

In terms of gaining readership to your blog, there is an old saying that is
still true today: Content is King. What this means is that people
find blogs in two ways, the largest being through searching topics on the
web. The other is Word of mouth which today usually means Social Media.

Here is an example. Let's say you publish a blog on quilting and you wrote
a post on How to quilt with applique. People searching the terms
How to applique or applique quilts would see search
results for your post. They would go there first and then, hopefully, they
would look around your blog for other things that interest them, and add
your blog to their feed or their favorites. This would gain readership that
you could recommend books and products to, to earn affiliate commissions.

The other way people find blogs is by word of mouth, but today this means
social media. Once you set up a blog, look for social media groups related
to your topic and join them. Just be careful recommending things in your
group that can help your business. This can have a negative effect on group
members, and some groups do not allow any type of promotion.

Information Products

I used to publish a book on that subject, but the field was changing so
fast I couldn't keep up with it so I stopped updating and selling it a few
years ago.

There are two kinds of information products - free products to promote
affiliate sales, and paid information products that teach something that is
valuable to people. The first kind might be a book with reviews such as The
Best Ten Programmable Sewing Machines.

The book would contain in-depth reviews of products for sale on sites that
pay affiliate commissions (such as eBay or Amazon) and would contain
hyperlinks to the products embedded with your affiliate link. (The best way
to create and fulfill these books is as a PDF file).

The second type of book would contain valuable information people would
happily pay for. Let's say your blog was about Fly Fishing in the Western
United States. Your book could be something like
Fly Fishing Travel Guide to The Yellowstone River. The book would
contain lists of lodges, fishing locations and fishing guide services with
contact information.

If you think this is a far-fetched idea, realize there are millions of fly
fishermen (and women) in the United States, and The Yellowstone River is
considered the Holy Grail of fishing rivers. Almost every fly fisherperson
hopes to make a pilgrimage there some time in their lifetime. You might say
it's on every fly fisherman's bucket list. Any of these people would be a
potential buyer for such a book.

The key to both of those books being successful is the relationship they
have to your blog. If your blog is about digital photography, then it would
be hard to push a book about fly fishing or sewing machines. So, make sure
your eBook is relevant to your main blog topic.

If you are particularly interested in, and knowledgeable about a subject,
then you could probably write a blog about it. Just be prepared for some
work. In the blog's first year, you will have to create and publish posts
at least 4 days a week to have any chance of Google finding you, and to
build a following. By the second year you could cut back to twice a week,
and by the third year once a week. But in the beginning, it's really
important to create a lot of content as soon as you can.

Blogging is very cheap. Most blogging software programs are free (the most
popular is WordPress) and then you have to pay for internet hosting which
costs you as little as $5 per month (slightly more if you add privacy
protection). And, it can be very profitable.

There are thousands of bloggers wo make over $10,000 a month (and a few
hundred who make even more). And, best of all you can do it from anywhere
you can get an internet connection (RV, Boat, Campground, hotel, or even a
resort in the South of Spain).

One thing I always worry about is my credibility, so I am very careful
about affiliate programs I recommend. My policy is:
If I would not recommend it to my sister, then I won't recommend it to
my readers
.
That is one of the reasons I like the Amazon Affiliate Program. Amazon is
honest and reliable and I can check the reviews on products before I
recommend them. I use the Amazon Affiliate program myself and my book:
How to Make Money with The Amazon Affiliate Program
has been one of my best sellers.

Earlier, I mentioned that WordPress is my recommended blogging software.
It's actually very easy to use, but a little handholding would be helpful
in the beginning. My webmaster, Marsha Perry, has written a great primer on
WordPress:
The Illustrated User's Guide for WordPress Websites and Blogs
.
Unfortunately, it's only available in Kindle, but if you want some good
books in Paperback, I can recommend these two:

Wholesale Car Covers & Accessories
is a drop ship wholesaler and company rep for many businesses such as Budge
Industries (vehicle covers), Blockit & Lockit Systems (The WRAP
steering wheel lock) Guard Dog door lock and more. Note: I
have no experience with their drop ship service, so be
careful, as you would when trying out any new drop shipper. Their car
covers are licensed by NASCAR.

Direct Liquidation
allows you to bid directly on Wal-Mart surplus and liquidated products.
Since many of these are brand name products, be sure and check with eBay
and/or Amazon to make sure you can sell them.

Please Note:
Some of the products and
services mentioned in this website, in articles, banner ads and
newsletters and blog posts are for products and services for which I
earn a referral fee or commission. We always evaluate anything we
recommend very carefully and each year we turn down literally dozens
of opportunities to recommend products or services where we can earn
a commission. Even though we earn a fee on some of our
recommendations, we only recommend products and services that we
feel will deliver good value and with rare exceptions, they all come
with a money back guarantee.